The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-11-02


Sometimes it looks rs if 1T had
mast" he said, with some sort of u
signal on it. and then it is all fiat again
and hardly shows out of water"
The aptain went into the top with
his glass, but as he brought the tele-
scope to bear upon the spot, the object
disappeared. lie caught glimpse of
it, however, su ficint to assure him that
it was some living creature, and that it
bore no resemblance to whale.
There was much speculation among
the crew as to what the animal could be.
The Captain said that it seemed to DO
as long as the ship, and that IA it went
down portion of it appeared to rise
above the water like II coil of an. i'm
mense rope. His view, however, had
been very hurried and imperfect.
We thought of the tale we had read
concerning sea serpents, and the most
of us believed in the existence OF such
creatures, though it was our opinion
that the accounts given of them were
exaggerations.
That night sailor named Ben
Thomas thought he saw something
black on the water, as if boat were
approaching us. He called our atten-
ton to it, but the mate was the only
one beside himself who got sight of
it, though the rest of us heard and saw
a disturbance in the water at the place
where the thing had shown itself. Ben
said it looked like n very long boat,
with tall man standing up in 1t. But
then in the darkness it had been barely
perceptible even to him.
The China Sea abounds in snakes,
and they were around us constantly,
either making their way through the
water or coiled up asleep on the sur
face. They were all colors, too, but
their length was not more than five or
six feet.
We had rugged a temporary iib-
boom to replace the one lost in the hur-
ricane, and on the morning succeeding
Ben's incident Bill Dean went out on the
spar to secure q gasket, or small line,
which was dangling loose.
Before this could be accomplished he
suddenly changed his mind. and he
came in over the ships head like a cat.
8 ook here, mates!" he cried, come
quick quickl"
We ran forward and looked over the
head.
The slowly moving swell, hardly per-
ceptible, was smooth as OIL and be-
meath it, more and more distinctly. as
locked, we made out an object that
gave us thrill of terror. 1t was some
monster of the deep, apparently huge
serpent, few feet under water, bent
In the form of horseshoe, as if it had
just come out from beneath the vessel
on one side of the bow and had curved
its immense body for return on the
other side.
We could at first see neither its head
nor its tail, but only its middle, where
it seemed to be at least three feet in
diameter. In half minute it was out
of sight, its tail coming up and cutting
the water as it vanished.
We felt Mortified at the thought that
such monster might be directly under
our keel, either swimming about there
or lying at rest. The faces of the crew
had a startled look, and more than one
face grew decidedly pale.
We feared that the calm might con-
fine us to our position for number of
days. When, therefore, an hour later
there appeared indications of a coming
breeze, the signs were most heartily
welcomed.
Here and there could be seen cats
paws" upon the water, and the burning
sky began to show few light clouds
Looking off toward the horizon. in
the direction from which we had rea-
son to exl ect the wind, we presently
discovered what had the appearance of
fleet of small vessels.
Again the Captain mounted to the
main top with his glass. and after a
minutes survey. he reported the sails
in sight to be four Malay proas, appar-
emily heading for us with good
! breeze
Here were enemies more dangerous
than serpents The case was one of
life and death, for those fellows were
undoubtedly pirates, and no mercy was
to be hoped from them should they get
possession of the ship.
On they came very fast, while we
we're still becalmed; but well we knew
that even should the light breeze
reach us, it could do us no good, as
nothing less than a strong gale can
afford heavy ship any chance OF es-
cape when chased by a Malay proa.
Zach of the four large boats APP
peared to contain about fifty men, so
that the aggregate was two hundred,
while we mustered but twenty, all told.
The breeze at length reached us, and
we bore away, but they gained on us
rapidly.
AS they came within fair range we
opened upon them with q dozen mus
kets which we had on board, and they
returned the fire, also with muskets,
neither they nor ourselves having any
cannon.
They were soon close under our
stern, and it was evidently their inten-
tion to board us on both sides at the
same time; for while two of the proas
seemed to be heading for our lee quar-
ter, the other two hauled very sharp
on the wind in order to drop aboard OF
us on the side opposite.
The headmost proa was less than a
hundred yards from us, and the firing
on both sides had become very sharp,
when suddenly there was smashing
sound in the water just astern of the
ship, and a long. hideous head, sup
ported bv frightful serpentine neck,